When we think of archives, we often think of working with printed materials such as letters, scrapbooks, flyers, maps and newspapers. It’s frequently only in futuristic, science-fiction movies where archivists and researchers are depicted working with digital records, such as archive visits that take place in Star Wars and Star Trek. Archivists will of course be responsible for digital records in the future, but in reality, the future is already here – archivists are regularly preserving and providing access to born-digital and digitized records today, and they have been for decades.
Digital records are fragile, and most of us have had a moment where we couldn’t find an image we were looking for on our computer, a webpage we needed had disappeared, or a file wouldn’t open for a variety of reasons. Many of these situations are examples of the risks to digital files: obsolete technologies, damaged storage devices, viruses or other security risks, and even just human error (have you ever accidentally deleted a file?). In addition, digital records are being produced on a massive scale, so the sheer amount of data is a challenge to keep up with. Archivists at UMW and many other institutions are actively working to preserve digital records of historical value so that they are available for research for years to come. Examples of these records can include websites, email, and social media, along with born-digital versions of traditional records, such as PDF documents and digital photos.
The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC), a UK-based company, charity, and community, defines digital preservation as “the series of managed activities necessary to ensure continued access to digital materials for as long as necessary” and shares a list of “endangered digital species,” describing it as “a community-sourced list of at-risk digital materials which is revised every two years.” DPC provides additional resources like a digital preservation handbook and toolkits, as well as hosting an annual World Digital Preservation Day (WDPD). WDPD is held on the first Thursday of every November, and this year’s theme is Preserving Our Digital Content: Celebrating Communities.
To celebrate WDPD2024, check out UMW’s very own digital collections, which include digitized files of analog originals (digital surrogates) and born-digital files like websites. These files live inside a system that Special Collections & University Archives uses to preserve them – the system enables us to keep multiple copies in different geographic locations, migrate file types as needed, check for viruses and data integrity, and organize the information with descriptive metadata. If you have any questions regarding digital preservation at UMW or for your own records, Special Collections staff are happy to help!
